A core part of your digital marketing plan is a search strategy. Marketers commonly allocate nearly half their ad budget in paid search, hoping to be found by the right people. With so much of your ad spend going toward search marketing, the last thing you want is to waste money.
Below are five common search mistakes that are easy to be guilty of. Avoid them to maximize your budget and run search campaigns more effectively.
1. Failing to set up the proper tracking.
It’s helpful when you know which keywords and ads are working well for your audience and which ones are not. An easy way to keep track of this information is by adding conversion tracking to your confirmation page.
If you can’t add a tracking pixel to your page, there is another way to track conversions: by adding tracking parameters to your landing page URLs. When complete, you can use Google Analytics to run reports and segment your data based on the source, medium or campaign, and the confirmation URL.
2. Not utilizing your remarketing lists.
When you tag your visitors, you can create audiences based on the URLs visited. Be as specific or generalized as you want. The key is to build lists of people to retarget in the future, such as those who visited your site for at least 60 seconds or abandoned an item. When you have remarketing lists, you can create targeted ads to reach customers and make a conversion.
3. Forgetting to add ad extensions.
Ad extensions are nothing new, but many marketers forget to use them in their search campaigns. Extensions help your ad stand out by adding extra substance and taking up more real estate. There are many extensions to choose from, with a few of our favorites being sitelinks, structured snippets and call extensions. Use them. Optimize them. Extensions are effective and will help you stand out.
4. Not running search query reports.
If you have a keyword that starts running through your budget, do you take the time to find out why? Many marketers do not. Before you put the keyword on pause, do some research and find out why you’re burning through your ad dollars. Are you using the best match type? Are you overpaying for your position?
To find out this information, pay attention to your search query reports. This report tells you exactly what people are typing into the search box. Knowing what your audience is looking for helps with match types, impressions, low click through rates and more.
5. Only focusing on the No. 1 position.
It’s a great feeling to see your website at the top of search results, but don’t get hung up on the first position. Positions one, two and three are all powerful places to be. Plus, if you end up paying less per click on position three and still get great CTR and lead volume, there’s no reason to pay more.
It’s easy to make search marketing mistakes because of all the technicalities. By being aware, studying your search query reports and utilizing the proper tools, you can avoid these mistakes and stretch your ad dollars further.
